It’s the New Year, and everyone is looking for a few new dishes that are healthier to tuck into their recipe box. Here’s a Huffman family favorite from Pinterest that has been tweaked a bit.

BTW, you can use another type of pasta instead if you’d like, but the tomato-garlic-basil sauce pairs especially well with angel hair. Add some crusty bread to round out the meal and you’re set. Mangia!

My sister Nancy is an artist. She is a scrapbooker, par excellence. Last year for Christmas she made my mother, my sister Valarie, and I beautiful calendars containing poignant pictures of each person in our extended family, from young to old. Each person was specially represented by his/her birthday month, which was made more interesting because of the fact that some of the grandkids are only together a couple of times a year. Somehow Nancy managed to filter through hundreds and hundreds of family photos to find just the right ones that featured group pictures of the birthday people for each month. As 2012 rolled on, it was a treat to turn each new page and relive the moment in which it was snapped.

This year she made a surprising version of just us three Rixie sisters: “The Rixies in the 60’s.” (Kinda catchy, that title—)

Nancy’s scrapbooked exquisite backgrounds for each month — patiently chosen, cut, layered, and pasted — are elegant beyond words. My newest trip down memory lane has been elevated to heirloom status. . . . One thing’s for certain, I won’t be jotting down appointments in this calendar anytime soon!

Each photo took me back: To the house where we lived at the time; to the set of clothes I was wearing; to the event behind the picture; to the smells, sounds and sights of childhood. YES, I WAS THERE!

Funny, sweet, memorable. My best Christmas present by far, this year.

And speaking of calendars and days, God reminds us in Psalm 139:16:

All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

In a brand new year when all those empty squares are waiting to be filled, it’s good to remember God gives us the indescribable gift of each new day. Days to use for Him, to love Him, to love others through Him.

Let’s make 2013 even more memorable . . . for the Kingdom . . . through His abundant grace . . . and may HE receive the glory!